Lined paper box and method of making same



Dec. 17, 1963 J. P. BIANCHI 3,114,300

LINED PAPER BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Sept. 12, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 mmvroxs BY Joseph R Blanch:

his ATTORNEY Dec. 17, 1963 J. P. BIANCHI 3,114,300

LINED PAPER BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Sept. 12. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 a INVENTOR.

Joseph P. Bianchi is ATTORNEY J. P. BIANCHI LINED PAPER BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME 'F'iled Sept. 12, 1960 Dec. 17, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 v 1: nm T INVENTOR. Joseph P. Bianchi XS ATTORNEY Degz. 17, 1963 J. P. BlANCHl 3,114,300

LINED PAPER BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME File d Sept. 12. 1960 4 SheetsSheet 4 1 i I i his ATTORNEY atent Bilifidi] Patented Dec. 17, 1963 dice 3,114,300 LINED PAPER BOX AND METHOD OF MAKING SANIE Joseph P. Bianchi, 601 Brinwood Ave., Pittsburgh 27, Pa., assignor of forty percent to Lionel Bernier, Washington, Pa., and twenty percent to William J. Ruano, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Filed Sept. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 55,559 5 Claims. (Cl. 93--36.6)

This invention relates to a foldable paper or cardboard box, especially one having a paper lining and, more particularly, relates to a box construction and to the method of making such box.

An outstanding disadvantage of conventional cardboard boxes lined with moisture-proof paper is that since it is customary to slit or cut the box blank while the lining is on the cardboard, the carton does not provide a truly airetight and moisture-proof seal because it is difficult to seal the edge portions of such carton. In other types of conventional boxes, a separate package is first made of the lining material, which is filled with the desired contents, such as cereal, flour, etc., and finally this package is sealed and inserted inside an unlined carton which is also sealed.

Both of the the above mentioned conventional constructions for a lined carton have outstanding disadvantages, particularly as to the time required and costs for making the carton. Such cartons are generally made from separate cardboard panels which are individually scored or creased and cut into the desired shape of the box blank in a single die cutting operation. Such meth od is extremely time consuming and expensive as Well as wasteful of the carton material.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel, inner lined foldable carton which is of such construction as to assure a moisture-tight and air-tight seal to prevent any seepage of air or moisture through the carton material (often referred to as wicking) by virtue of the fact that, in accordance with the present invention, none of the carton material is exposed to the contents of the carton since lap joints are made of the lining material without interposition of the carton material.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel method of making large quantifies of inner lined foldable cartons at a high rate of speed which is many times faster than conventional speeds by avoiding the necessity of cutting the panels separately.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a novel, high speed method of making inner lined, foldable paper cartons by having the carton material in the form of a large roll and performing successive operations on the web of such material without severing or separating the box blanks, such operations including partial die cutting and scoring, partial scrapping, lining and finally diecutting the lined carton or cardboard, all while the carton is still in the form of a continuous web of material, thereby enabling rapid, mass production at a very high speed, comparable to the linear speed of travel of the web.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a novel, inner lined, foldable carton wherein certain edge portions of the carton are lined without a backing of cardboard material for the purpose of making a suitable sealed joint solely between adhered portions of the lining material, which will insure a perfect moisture-proof and air-tight seal by such overlapping of the lining material without interposing the carton material since it prevents exposure of any part of the inner surface of the carton to the contents of the carton, thereby preventing wicking or capillary escape of air or moisture through the carton material.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inner-lined, foldable carton or box embodying the principles of my invention and showing the carton and lining before the top end is folded and showing a side portion partially cut-away;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, top, perspective view of the carton shown in FIG. 1 when in partially folded condition;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view, similar to FIG. 2, showing the box after one of the top flaps is folded;

FIG. 4 is a top or plan view of a portion of a web of cardboard material that is in the form of a large roll, showing, at the right of FIG. 4 the cardboard after it is partially die out and scored and showing, at the left of FIG. 4 the cut-out portions after being partially scrapped or removed;

FIG. 5 is a top or plan view showing the following stages or operations performed on the continuous web of cardboard material after the partial die cutting or scrapping operations are formed, FIG. 5 showing, at the right, the imprinting of a glue pattern and, at the left, the subsequent attachment of a lining material forming a laminated construction;

FIG. 6 shows, at the right, a subsequent stage or operation on the continuous web of cardboard material, namely the final die cutting and scrapping or trimming operation whereby box blanks are completely severed and separated from the web material as shown at the left of FIG. 6; and- FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, plan view showing the partial die cutting and gluing stages of a modified'form of box which is also made in accordance with the present invention from a continuously travelling web of cardboard material.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawing numeral 1 generally denotes a foldable paper carton or box of cardboard, paper or other suitable material, such as used for packaging cereal, flour, cake mixes and other items of food. The box comprises front and rear panels 2 and side panels 3. Since the construction of the bottom end is the same as that of the top end, only the top end is shown and will be described. Score or crease lines 40 and 5c, in dot and dash outline, define the perimeters of panels 2 and 3 and define the edges of the top flaps 4a, 4b, 5a and 517 (see also FIG. 4). It will be noted from FIGS. 1 and 2 that flaps 5b are preferably made somewhat shorter than those of the contiguous inner lining portion. The lining material 7 is moisture proof paper, such as wax paper, metal foil, or any other suitable lining material. Spots 8 of adhesive material are preferably formed at the corners of the inner surfaces of the cardboard flaps 4a and 4b for temporarily holding the lining in the position shown in FIG. 1 so that there is no obstruction when the contents of the box are poured therein.

The lining is adhered to the inner surface of a carton 1 within the area defined by dash lines 7a. Thus, as the end flaps 5a and 5b are folded down into the position shown in FIG. '2 the glued connection of the lining with the carton at spots 8 will be broken. Flap 4a is then folded over from the position shown in FIG. 2 to that shown-in FIG. 3. Finally, flap 4b is folded over onto and adhered to the outer glued surface of flap 4a.

In this manner, the moisture proof lining material 6 will be folded at the same time the flaps are folded, forming a very air-tight and moisture-proof seal which prevents even the smallest seepage of air or moisture. Such seal is substantially enhanced by the fact that a part of the inner lining projects beyond the top edges of flaps 5a and 5b, as shown more clearly in FIGSL'Z and 3,

which projection becomes sealed to the edge portion 6 of the inner lining 7, thus providing a seal only between the lining edges, exclusive of the canton edges, providing a construction wherein no part of the cardboard is exposed to the contents of the inner lining. This scheme is also preferably carried out when lapping and joining the side panels 3 together. As shown at the top, left hand corner of FIG. 1, the adjoining edge portions of the lining 7 overlap and are glued together. However, the edge of flap 3a of the carton falls short of the projecting edge 6 of the adhered lining pontion, which portion is lapped with the opposite edge portion 6 of the lining. Again this enables formation of a glued lapped joint involving only the edge portions 6 of the lining without interposition of the carton material in the sealed lining joint. These joints prevent wicking or capillary attraction of moisture through the cardboard, as would occur if the lining ortions, backed by flaps a and 5b were of the same size as the flaps, or if the edges of the lining correspond exactly with the edges of flaps 3a.

The carton material is made in the form of a paper roll of large diameter. The first step of the process of making the carton is preferably that of printing the design desired on the outside of the carton throughout the entire web. This may be done by any conventional paper printing methods such as that for color printing newspapers. In some instances printing may be done at a later stage or even as the final stage.

After printing of the box designs along the entire web of carton material, partial die cutting is done along the full lines, such as those forming rectangular outlines adjacent flap portions 5a and 5b, also 311 on web portion A shown on the right of FIG. 4. Thus, by the subsequent operation of partial scrapping, these rectangular pieces adjoining flaps 5a, 5b and 3a will be either mechanically forced away or blown off and thus removed from the web, as shown in the left web portion B of FIG. 4 which illustrates a web portion after partial scrapping has been effected. If desired, simultaneously with the partial cutting stage, partial scoring may be effected along the dotancl-d-ash lines 40 shown in web portion A. Lines 4c define panels 2 and 3 and the flaps 5a, 5b and 3a. Turning again to web portion A on the right of FIG. 4, showing the partial die cutting and scoring or creasing stage, it will be noted that two box blanks are being formed in side-by-side relationship along the Web, each blank having front and rear anels 2, side panels 3 and top and bottom flaps 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b. Similarly, 3, 4, 5 or any other number of boxes may be formed side-by-side along the width of the web. It should be noted, however, that as an alternative method, the scoring or creasing operation along lines 40 may be omitted in this stage, that is, only partial cutting may be effected in the first stage, in which case creasing can be accomplished, in the manner shown, in the final die cutting stage shown in FIG. 6.

Although preferred, it is not absolutely necessary to make the rectangular cut-outs adjoining the flap portions 5a, 5b and 3:1 for enabling overlap of the liner paper edge portions to prevent sl-ow seepage of air or moisture through the carton, referred to in the art as wicking.

The left portion of FIG. 4 (exclusive of the extreme left, glued part thereof) shows a web portion B after the partial scrapping stage, during which stage the rectangular pieces adjoining flaps 5a, 5b and 3a are completely removed from the web. The crease lines 40 have been omitted in web portion B merely for the purpose of clarity, although it should be remembered that they are still contained in portion B in the same manner as illustrated in the right hand portion of FIG. 4 if the partial die cutting stage includes simultaneous scoring. It will be especially noted that the web is still continuous, even after the partial die cutting, partial scoring and partial scrapping stages.

The next stage is shown at the right of FIG. 5, on web portion C, which stage is that of applying a glue pattern having a wavy outline 7a, either to the carton material, as shown, or as an alternative, to the lining material 7 illustrated at the left of FIG. 5 on web portion D. The glue pattern outline 7a defines a number of substantially triangular configurations in order to provide a more perfect seal to permit folding and sealing of the finished box in the manner shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. It should be noted that the liner 7, like the carton material, is in the form of a roll of large diameter, the web portion of which becomes laminated with the web portion of the carton roll as illustrated in web portion B in FIG. 4.

After the gluing stage, the liner, such as a web of wax paper or other moisture proof paper in roll form, is adhered to the carton web in the manner shown in panel portions D and E at the left of FIG. 5 to provide a laminated construction so that the interior surface of the box may be made moisture proof.

Following the laminating stage, the final die cutting stage is performed as shown on panel portion. E in FIG. 6 wherein the laminated web is die out along the full lines 411 and 411 so as to form the final blanks as illustrated in web portion F which for the first time become completely severed and separated from the web. The final scrapping stage is illustrated on web portion F showing removal of the cutout portions. The blank forms are shown more clearly in FIGS. 1-3. The laminated blanks are not only cut and separated from the web of the carton and liner roll, for the first time, but are also separated from each other in the side-by-side relationship across the width of the laminated web.

The successive stages are preferably that of (1) printing (2) partial die cutting (with or without partial scoring) (3) partial scrapping (4) applying a pattern glue to the inner liner (or to the carton) (5) laminating to the inner liner from a web of suitable flexible material (6) final die cutting and scrapping (and scoring if not previously done).

Any or all of the initial stages may be successively performed on the same or different machines, after which stage or stages the rolls may be rewound so as to be in readiness for unwinding for performing subsequent operations. In one extreme, there may be a rewind after each operation, whereas as the other extreme, there may be no rewinds at all. However, the most likely or best mode of operation would be to have a rewind after one, two or three successive steps to place the roll in readiness for the following step or successive steps, and perhaps to repeat the rewind, if necessary.

It should be understood that all the rectangular slots shown in FIG. 4 may be eliminated entirely to enable forming of a simple box structure, in which case flaps 5a and 5b would extend to the full height of liner 6, instead of being slightly shorter thereof as shown in FIG. 1 and in which case there will be no edge portion of the liner unbacked with carton material as shown in the cutout side portion of FIG. 1. It will be understood, of course, that the particular crease outlines and the particular cut-out outlines for partial and final scrapping are dictated by the particular box design used. Therefore, for a box construction such as shown in FIGS. 13, the crease and cut outlines shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 would be used. However, in the case of other box designs other corresponding crease and cut patterns would be used, but which would still be made by the successive steps described above, so that the web will remain continuous until the final die cutting stage.

An example of a modification of the box is shown in FLG. 7 which illustrates a panel portion after the partial die cutting and scoring stages on web portion A the partial scrapping stage in Web portion B and the gluing stage in web portion C. This type of box is generally used for crackers, wherein cut-out portions, shown in full lines So, are provided leaving flap portions 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b and a glue pattern C having an outline shown as 7a. However, this modification as well as numerous other modifications are nevertheless made in a manner which will be obvious to those skilled in the art after having had the benefit of the teachings of the method described above involving the successive steps described above, to insure continuity of the web even after the liner material has been adhered thereto before final die cutting which, for the first time, severs the laminated web into individual foldable box blanks.

The present method is also useful for making unlaminated cartons, in which case, following the partial scrapping stage, shown in web portion B of FIG. 4, gluing may be performed and thereafter final die cutting and scrapping.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a novel foldable carton or paper box having adhered thereto an inner liner of moisture-proof paper, which box is of such construction as to insure, when folded and sealed, complete air-tightness by overlap of the edges of the liner and by avoidance of cutting the box and liner simultaneously as conventionally done, thereby insuring that the contents of the box will not be exposed to any part of the paper cardboard which would enable slow seeping of air therethrough or wicking, that is, capillary attraction of moisture or air through the very small spaces between the cardboard overlapped flaps or between the cardboard and the liner overlapped flaps, or the porous cardboard material itself; furthermore, I have provided a novel method of making foldable cardboard or paper boxes at a very high rate of speed heretofore unapproached to enable mass production of such boxes at a cost of only a small fraction of the cost for making lined paper boxes, or even unlined paper boxes, by presently known methods.

While I have illustrated and described several embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that these are by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. The method of making foldable, lined, paper boxes suitable for filling by automatic filling machines, comprising unwinding a continuous web of carton material from a large roll, partially cutting said web along lines defining flaps without severing the longitudinal edges of said web and while keeping the web continuous throughout, removing rectangular cut out portions inwardly of and contiguous to said flaps and inwardly of said longitudinal edges of the Web, unwinding from a second roll a continuous web of moisture-proof lining material and adhering said lining material to said web of carton material with the edges of said lining material contained within the confines of said longitudinal edges of said web of carton material and so as to cover said rectangular cut out portions but omitting adhering material adjacent corner portions of the end flaps, finally cutting the resulting laminated continuous web parallel to the longitudinal edges of said web of carton material and transversely thereof adjacent said flaps and along the outer edges of said rectangular cut-out portions to form individual lined boxes having lining material completely covering said rectangular cut out portions and so that the lining material will project beyond the edges of the flaps of said boxes, whereby when the flaps are folded, the projected lining material will lap over the edges of the flaps onto lining material so as to prevent exposure of carton material to the interior of the boxes.

2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein said flaps include the end flaps and longitudinal side flaps of said boxes.

3. The method of making foldable, lined paper boxes suitable for filling by automatic filling machines, comprising unwinding a continuous web of carton material from a large roll, partially cutting said web along lines defining flaps of at least a pair of boxes extending in side-by-side relationship across the width of the web while keeping the web continuous throughout its longitudinal edges, removing rectangular cut out portions inwardly of and contiguous to flaps of said boves, unwinding from a second roll a continuous web of moisture-proof lining material and adhering said lining material to said lining material contained within the confines of said longitudinal edges of said Web of carton material and so as to cover said rectangular cut out portions but omitting adhering material adjacent corner portions of the end flaps, finally cutting the resulting laminated continuous web transversely and centrally longitudinally into separate lined boxes with the lining material completely covering said rectangular cut out portions, so that the lining material will project beyond the edges of the flaps of said boxes, whereby when the flaps are folded, the projected lining material will lap over the edges of the flaps onto lining material so as to prevent exposure of carton material to the interior of the boxes.

4. The method recited in claim 3 wherein said flaps include the end flaps and longitudinal side flaps of said boxes.

5. The method recited in claim 3 wherein said flaps are end flaps which are covered with adhering material except at each corner where only a spot of adhering material is placed so that when the laminated box is folded after filling, the spots of adhering material will be easily severed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,427,858 Hogdal Sept. 23, 1947 2,432,053 Waters Dec. 2, 1947 2,542,298 Zinn Feb. 20, 1951 2,799,211 Zerlin et al. July 16, 1957 

1. THE METHOD OF MAKING FOLDABLE, LINED, PAPER BOXES SUITABLE FOR FILLING BY AUTOMATIC FILLING MACHINES, COMPRISING UNWINDING A CONTINUOUS WEB OF CARTON MATERIAL FROM A LARGE ROLL, PARTIALLY CUTTING SAID WEB ALONG LINES DEFINING FLAPS WITHOUT SEVERING THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF SAID WEB AND WHILE KEEPING THE WEB CONTINUOUS THROUGHOUT, REMOVING RECTANGULAR CUT OUT PORTIONS INWARDLY OF AND CONTIGUOUS TO SAID FLAPS AND INWARDLY OF SAID LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THE WEB, UNWINDING FROM A SECOND ROLL A CONTINUOUS WEB OF MOISTURE-PROOF LINING MATERIAL AND ADHERING SAID LINING MATERIAL TO SAID WEB OF CARTON MATERIAL WITH THE EDGES OF SAID LINING MATERIAL CONTAINED WITHIN THE CONFINES OF SAID LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF SAID WEB OF CARTON MATERIAL AND SO AS TO COVER SAID RECTANGULAR CUT OUT PORTIONS BUT OMITTING ADHERING MATERIAL ADJACENT CORNER PORTIONS OF THE END FLAPS, FINALLY CUTTING THE RESULTING LAMINATED CONTINUOUS WEB PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF SAID WEB OF CARTON MATERIAL AND TRANSVERSELY THEREOF ADJACENT SAID FLAPS AND ALONG THE OUTER EDGES OF SAID RECTANGULAR CUT-OUT PORTIONS TO FORM INDIVIDUAL LINED BOXES HAVING LINING MATERIAL COMPLETELY COVERING SAID RECTANGULAR CUT OUT PORTIONS AND SO THAT THE LINING MATERIAL WILL PROJECT BEYOND THE EDGES OF THE FLAPS OF SAID BOXES, WHEREBY WHEN THE FLAPS ARE FOLDED, THE PROJECTED LINING MATERIAL WILL LAP OVER THE EDGES OF THE FLAPS ONTO LINING MATERIAL SO AS TO PREVENT EXPOSURE OF CARTON MATERIAL TO THE INTERIOR OF THE BOXES. 